They Cropped Me Out, So I Cut Them Off Chapter 09

They Cropped Me Out, So I Cut Them Off Chapter 09

“Mateo and I aren’t together.”

I gave a faint smile.

“That’s why I came back to settle things with you first.”

“I’m not like you, Luca.”

“You had a girlfriend, and you were still all over another woman.”

Luca immediately tried to explain.

“That’s not what it was.”

“Blythe, you’re the only person I’ve ever loved.”

I tapped my fingers lightly against the glass table, cutting him off.

“I heard you that night.”

Luca froze.

A second later, he realized exactly what I meant.

It was the night they had cropped me out of the photo.

The night he had casually told them he’d only confessed to me because he was mad at Serena.

“No.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

Luca tried to explain again.

I raised my hand.

“It doesn’t matter anymore, Luca.”

I looked at him calmly.

“I don’t need a coward who can’t even admit he likes me.”

Whether he had truly loved me or not no longer mattered.

The moment those words had left his mouth, there had been no future for us.

“But I think I owe you a proper ending.”

I smiled as I said it.

Tears slipped down Luca’s face.

He kept shaking his head.

“No.”

“Don’t say it.”

“Please, Blythe.”

“I’m begging you.”

“We’re breaking up, Luca.”

My words cut through every possibility between us.

Theodore and Isla looked at me with complicated expressions.

“Blythe…”

I nodded.

“I’ll go home one more time.”

“I’m moving the rest of my things out for good.”

Theodore’s face went pale.

“Blythe, we’re still family.”

I lowered my eyes.

Once, I had desperately wanted to hear them say those words.

Now?

I didn’t care anymore.

“But Serena was always the sister you wanted.”

Theodore and Isla both looked even worse.

“Blythe…”

“We know we were wrong.”

“It’s okay.”

“This time, I’m the one who stopped expecting anything from you.”

I looked at Theodore, Isla, and Luca.

“Do you know Alpnachstad is about to be relocated?”

No one stands in the same place forever.

After that day, I cut contact with all of them.

When I finished moving out, my parents asked me,

“Blythe, do you really have to do this?”

I looked at them seriously.

“Dad chose Theodore’s name.”

“Mom chose Isla’s.”

Then I pointed at myself.

“But when I was born, you thought I was ugly.”

“My nose was covered in little clogged pores.”

“You didn’t like how I looked, so neither of you even cared enough to name me.”

“In the end, a neighbor named me.”

My parents opened their mouths.

But neither of them could argue.

From that day on, my life revolved around only two things.

My career.

And traveling.

I stopped compromising for anyone.

I started moving at my own pace.

Sometimes Mateo and I disagreed about schedules or plans.

But instead of making one person give in, we worked it out together.

I wasn’t the favorite one in the group.

But I was someone the group couldn’t do without.

They often told me,

“If Blythe wasn’t here, this trip would be half as fun.”

What I never expected…

Was to meet Serena again under those circumstances.

She was screaming and hitting the man beside her.

“Let go of me!”

The man snapped back,

“Serena, enough!”

“We’re all adults!”

“You came camping with everyone and didn’t prepare a single thing.”

“Do you still not get what you have to give in return?”

She really had thought that.

Serena had always believed that being pretty, charming, and emotionally entertaining was enough.

That everyone else should take care of the rest.

She was used to being the favorite one in every group.

Used to having other people clear the road ahead of her.

She had never considered that everything came with a price.

My friends stepped up behind me.

I walked forward.

“Let her go.”

Serena’s hair was a mess.

Dark bruises marked her neck.

Embarrassment flashed across her face first.

Then jealousy.

“Blythe, you must be loving this, right?”

“Theodore and Luca stopped hanging out with me because of you.”

“Now you’re everyone’s favorite wherever you go.”

“You must be thrilled seeing me like this.”

“You’d just love to kick me while I’m down, wouldn’t you?”

I dropped some of my gear on the ground beside her.

Then I turned around and walked away.

Not another word.

Serena stared at the equipment scattered across the ground.

Then she saw the pepper spray among it.

A bitter smile crossed her face.

A second later, she started crying.

“I’m sorry!”

The wind was too loud. I could barely hear her apology.

Later, I heard that Luca never married.

His parents kept pressuring him.

But he always gave them the same answer.

“The person I wanted to marry stopped waiting for me a long time ago.”

Theodore and Isla also slowly stopped being as close as they once were.

Without me there to smooth over every little inconvenience, they began arguing over all kinds of everyday

problems.

Back then, they had never thought those small things were difficult.

Only after returning to real life did they realize how exhausting all the little things I used to handle actually

were.

But my parents fell apart even faster.

For years, they had only worried about enjoying themselves, going to parties, and living however they

wanted.

They had left countless everyday responsibilities to me.

Now they had separated.

And somehow, they had started desperately missing their youngest daughter.

Sometimes they would cautiously send me messages.

“Are you coming home for the holidays this year?”

I never replied.

Eventually, they tried to find a photo of me.

They couldn’t find a single one.

But this time…

I no longer wanted to belong in anyone else’s circle.

I no longer wanted a place in anyone’s frame.

I stood firmly inside my own world.

And I never had to worry about being cropped out again.